KnownCarProblems2004 Pontiac Vibe Problems and Recalls
Owners filed 266 complaints with NHTSA about the 2004 Pontiac Vibe, most often about the air bags (39% of complaints, typically around 106,500 miles). It is 4th of 12 Vibe model years by number of complaints and has 7 recalls.
Most common 2004 Pontiac Vibe problems
Air bags
104 complaints · 39%Half of these problems showed up before 106,500 miles. Parts named most often: frontal.
Recall notice received along with statement "until the repair is performed, the front passenger seat shoud not be used.' how does one get his family to and from destination when recalled auto is not safe to drive with passenger. Auto is used for transport of our family and grand children. This can not be condoned by…
Takata recall on 2/20/2015 my son my son was driving and daughter were traveling in a 2004 Pontiac Vibe north on la 1026 and was turning left into the dollar general when a pickup that was traveling south on la 1026 and t-boned the Pontiac Vibe causing it to go clockwise and into the ditch the pickup went counter…
Visibility and wipers
76 complaints · 29%Half of these problems showed up before 75,000 miles. Parts named most often: power window devices and controls, glass, side/rear, sun/moon roof assembly, windshield.
I have been hearing a popping sound on the driver's side door window for a while, but I didn't know what it was. When I went to roll up the window it started sticking ,then as it was going all the way up there was another popping sound and the window blew. I brought it to a place to be fixed. This popping sound also…
Tl contact owns a 2004 Pontiac Vibe. While driving 5 MPH and operating the driver side front window, the contact heard a grinding noise and a pop sound. The following day, she attempted to put down the power driver side window, but the window would not go down. The grinding noises continued. The contact was unsure if…
Body and structure
24 complaints · 9%Half of these problems showed up before 32,000 miles. Parts named most often: body, frame and members.
2004 Pontiac Vibe original tires worn out by 24000 miles, second set had severe vibration unable to fix and worn out 38k, dealer aligned and put in shim, 3rd set tires same problem severe vibration and noise just under 50k miles. Tire shop said prob with car and suspension, keeps cupping tires.
The contact owns a 2004 Pontiac Vibe. The contact stated that rear driver side door would not open or lock unless the master switch was pressed. The vehicle was broken into due to the door not automatically locking. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was…
Electrical
12 complaints · 5%Half of these problems showed up before 45,000 miles. Parts named most often: 12v/24v/48v battery, wiring, starter assembly.
If the air recirculation button is disabled and the power to the car is on, a clicking nose begins. The clicks occur more frequently than every second, continuously until the car is powered off. The clicking will continue regardless of whether or not the engine is running. The source of the clicking is the actuator…
The contact owns a 2004 Pontiac Vibe. The contact stated that rear driver side door would not open or lock unless the master switch was pressed. The vehicle was broken into due to the door not automatically locking. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was…
Engine
12 complaints · 5%Half of these problems showed up before 18,500 miles. Parts named most often: engine, exhaust system.
A drone noise was heard when the accelerator was pressed, especially during damp or cold weather, fall and winter. I have been told that it was a ?characteristic of the Pontiac even though this characteristic was not present when I test drove the car in the summer, and it was not told to me when I bought the vehicle.…
I had to have a new waterpump, thermostat, outlet seal installed as I could not get any heat. It was as if I went faster I would get a little heat. When took to s&k they told me I needed a new waterpump, etc. They were not going to pay for it. I could not understand this as I went online and researched this and saw…
Transmission
12 complaints · 5%Half of these problems showed up before 80,500 miles. Parts named most often: manual transmission, clutch assembly.
We purchased a used 2004 Pontiac Vibe gt with a 6-speed manual transmission. While driving down the highway at 70mph, the gear stick popped out of gear. Was able to put it back into gear but only for a few seconds before the gear stick popped again. Car and transmission only have 80,000 miles on them. Reading forums…
Have a 2004 Pontiac Vibe gt and just had to replace the clutch at 67 000 km. This is not the first car we've owned with a standard transmission, our previous car was a 1996 Pontiac sunfire which had 200 000 km on the original clutch when we sold it. We bought the 100 000 km powertrain warranty, but were told that the…
Speed control
11 complaints · 4%Half of these problems showed up before 53,000 miles.
Car sometimes accelerated on its own. This happened to multiple drivers of the my vehicle both while driving at about 35 MPH, and when stopped at a red light. Rpms went up to about 6000 and car tried to take off. We were able to stop it by braking hard, but the car was still revving. Even shifting to neutral didn't…
Plastic footrest, front floor, left side has cracked and broke free from it's retainer clips twice. The first one was replaced at 15,348 miles on 01/29/2007. The second occurance at approx. 66400 miles on 01/16/2013. This footrest has the potential to get jammed beneath the clutch, brake, and/or accelerator pedals…
Other or unspecified
10 complaints · 4%Half of these problems showed up before 89,000 miles.
Two issues that I have are, the air circulation vent makes a clicking. When I opened it up, I saw that it was because the vent would not close properly, I had to stick a pencil in it to make it stoip clicking, because I will not spend 100 dollars to have it replaced. Also, we live in montana, and our new battery will…
We have been getting the run around from the local Pontiac dealership, when they finally fixed the recall problem on our 2004 Vibe, they damaged other parts on the driver side door. After we arrived to have this repaired they tried to charge US for the damage they caused during the initial recall repair.
Complaints are owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects. One complaint can name several components, so shares add up to more than 100%.
2004 Pontiac Vibe recalls
Air bags: inflator module
Risk: An air bag that does not inflate properly increases the risk of injury in the event of a crash.
Fix: Gm will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and replace the passenger air bag module, as necessary, free of charge. The recall began february 19, 2020. Owners may contact pontiac customer service at 1-800-762-2737. Gm's number for this recall is n192278940.
Full defect summary
General motors llc (gm) is recalling certain 2003-2004 pontiac vibe vehicles equipped with a front passenger air bag assembly replaced under a prior recall. The replacement air bag may not unfold as designed during inflation in high temperature conditions, possibly resulting in the air bag not inflating properly.
Air bags: inflator module
Risk: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: Toyota will notify the toyota and lexus owners. General motors will notify the pontiac vibe owners. Depending on the vehicle model, dealers will replace the front passenger air bag inflator with an alternate inflator, or replace the air bag assembly that includes an alternate inflator, free of charge. The recall began january 23, 2019. Owners may contact toyota customer service at 1-888-270-9371, lexus customer service at 1-800-255-3987 or pontiac customer service at 1-800-762-2737. Toyota's numbers for these recalls are j0a (zone a toyota), j0b (zone b toyota), j0c (zone c toyota), jli (zone
Full defect summary
Toyota motor engineering & manufacturing (toyota) is recalling certain 2002-2005 lexus sc and toyota sequoia, 2003-2005 toyota corolla and tundra, and 2003-2007 pontiac vibe vehicles. These vehicles are equipped with certain air bag inflators assembled as part of the passenger frontal air bag modules used as original equipment or replacement equipment. In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger frontal air bag, these inflators may explode due to propellant degradation.
Air bags
Risk: In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: 2003-2004 corolla and corolla matrix vehicles that are recalled under both 15v-043 and 15v-285 are under a do not drive advisory. Owners of these vehicles are advised not to drive their vehicles until the recall remedy has been completed. Toyota will notify their owners. Pontiac vibe owners will be notified by gm. Dealers will replace the front passenger air bag. The recall began on july 13, 2015. Toyota owners may contact toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Pontiac owners may call 1-800-762-2737. Note: this recall supersedes recall 14v-312 in its entirety.
Full defect summary
Toyota motor engineering & manufacturing (toyota) notified the agency on may 13, 2015 that they are recalling certain model year 2004 sequoia vehicles manufactured august 18, 2003, to august 19, 2004, and 2003-2004 tundra vehicles manufactured march 18, 2003, to august 25, 2004. On june 16, 2015, toyota expanded the recall to include an additional 1,270,468 vehicles, including model year 2002-2003 and 2005-2007 sequoia, 2005-2006 tundra, 2003-2007 corolla, 2003-2007 corolla matrix, 2003-2007 pontiac vibe and 2002-2007 lexus sc vehicles. This is to address a safety defect in the passenger side frontal air bag inflator which may produce excessive internal pressure causing the inflator to rupture upon deployment of the air bag. This recall addresses both the passenger side frontal air bags that were originally installed in the vehicles, as well as replacement air bags that may have been ins
Air bags
Risk: In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the passenger's frontal air bag, the inflator could rupture with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death.
Fix: 2003-2004 corolla and corolla matrix vehicles that are recalled under both 15v-043 and 15v-286 are under a do not drive advisory. Owners of these vehicles are advised not to drive their vehicles until the recall remedy has been completed. Toyota will notify their owners. Pontiac vibe owners will be notified by gm. Dealers will replace the passenger side front air bag, free of charge. Owners may contact toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Toyota began the recall on july 13, 2015. Pontiac vibe owners may contact gm at 1-800-762-2737. Gm began the recall on june 29, 2015. Note: this recacl
Full defect summary
Toyota motor engineering & manufacturing (toyota) notified the agency on may 13, 2015, that they are recalling 2005-2007 lexus sc, toyota corolla, corolla matrix, sequoia, and pontiac vibe, and 2005-2006 toyota tundra vehicles that were originally sold, or ever registered, in florida, along the gulf coast, puerto rico, hawaii, the u.s. Virgin islands, guam, saipan and american samoa. On june 16, 2015 toyota expanded the recall to cover an additional 769,055 vehicles, including certain model year 2002-2004 lexus sc, toyota sequoia, 2003-2004 toyota corolla matrix, toyota corolla, pontiac vibe, and toyota tundra vehicles, as well the vehicles covered by the may 13, 2015 notification in the portions of georgia, alabama, louisiana, mississippi and texas that were not previously included. The inflators in the front passenger air bags are susceptible to rupture in the event of a crash necessit
Air bags: frontal
Risk: Inadvertent deployment of the air bags or the seat belt pretensioners increases the risk of an injury or crash.
Fix: Toyota will notify their owners. Pontiac vibe owners will be notified by gm. Dealers will replace the air bag control module, free of charge. The recall began on august 24, 2015. Toyota owners may contact toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331. Gm issued an interim notification to owners on march 27, 2015. The recall began on august 24, 2015. Pontiac owners may call 1-800-620-7668. Note: this recall supersedes recalls 13v-029 and 14v-147. Vehicles that had a noise filter installed as the remedy for one of those campaigns need to have the air bag control module replaced under this campaign.
Full defect summary
Toyota motor engineering & manufacturing (toyota) is recalling certain model year 2003-2004 toyota corolla vehicles manufactured december 28, 2001, to may 2, 2004, 2003-2004 toyota corolla matrix vehicles manufactured january 6, 2002, to april 29, 2004, 2003-2004 avalon vehicles manufactured june 5, 2002, to december 20, 2004, and 2003-2004 pontiac vibe vehicles manufactured january 18, 2002, to april 27, 2004. Due to electrical noise, a component in the air bag control module may fail, causing the front air bags, side air bags, and/or seatbelt pretensioners to deploy inadvertently while the vehicle is being operated.
Air bags
Risk: Inadvertent deployment of the airbags or the seat belt pretensioners may increase the risk of injury and the possibility of a vehicle crash.
Fix: Toyota will re-notify their owners who have already had their vehicles repaired with a noise filter, but did not receive a new airbag control module, and general motors will re-notify theirs. Dealers previously installed a supplemental harness containing an electrical filter between the airbag control module and its wire harness, free of charge. Dealers will replace the airbag control module, free of charge. The recall began on march 13, 2013. The manufacturer has not yet provided a schedule for second notices. For more information, toyota owners may call 1-800-331-4331 and pontiac owners may
Full defect summary
Toyota is recalling certain model year 2003-2004 corolla and corolla matrix vehicles and 2003-2004 pontiac vibe vehicles. The supplemental restraint system (SRS) circuits are susceptible to internal shorting. The electrical short may create an abnormal current flow and increased heat which can damage the circuits. This could result in an inadvertent deployment of the front airbags and/or seat belt pretensioners.
Visibility and wipers: glass, side/rear
Risk: The door glass may separate from the window regulator, bind and shatter during operation of the power windows, causing driver distraction and/or injury.
Fix: Dealers will replace the driver and front passenger door glass bolts with newly designed bolts free of charge. The recall began on april 16, 2008 to toyota owners. The recall began on may 21, 2008, for pontiac owners. Owners may contact toyota at 1-888-270-9371 or pontiac at 1-800-620-7668.
Full defect summary
Toyota is recalling 662,178 my 2003-2004 corolla, corolla matrix and pontiac vibe vehicles equipped with power windows. The driver and front passenger door glass bolts may loosen and come off, causing the door glass to separate from the window regulator. Due to the components becoming loose and possibly rattling, an abnormal noise may be heard from the driver and /or front passenger door when operating the power windows.
Recall repairs are free at any franchised dealer. Enter your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which recalls are still open on your car.
NHTSA defect investigations
Desiccated air bag inflator rupture
Summary
From 2000 through 2017, takata produced millions of air bag inflators using two types of phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate ("psan") propellant -- propellant 2004 and propellant 2004l. After prolonged exposure to high temperature cycles and humidity, inflators using propellant 2004 can degrade, causing the propellant to burn too quickly when ignited. The rapid burning can cause the inflator to rupture during deployment, potentially causing serious or even fatal injury to vehicle occupants. See 2016 blomquist report at www.NHTSA.gov/sites/NHTSA.gov/files/documents/expert_report-hrblomquist.pdf.consequently, all frontal inflators using propellant 2004 that do not contain a "desiccant" (a substa
Air bag inflator rupture
Summary
The office of defects investigation (odi) opened pe14-016 in june 2014 based on six inflator rupture incidents involving consumer owned vehicles produced by five vehicle manufacturers.all six vehicles were operated in florida or puerto rico at the time of the rupture and for the majority of their service life, and were equipped with inflators produced by takata, a tier-one supplier of automotive air bag systems.during the course of pe14-016, odi determined that five additional vehicle manufacturers used inflators of a similar design and vintage also supplied by takata. No evidence of field failures was found in vehicles produced by these five additional manufacturers.nonetheless, at odi's in
Air bag inflator rupture
Summary
The office of defects investigation (odi) opened pe14-016 in june 2014 based on six inflator rupture incidents involving consumer owned vehicles produced by five vehicle manufacturers.all six vehicles were operated in florida or puerto rico at the time of the rupture and for the majority of their service life, and were equipped with inflators produced by takata, a tier-one supplier of automotive air bag systems.during the course of pe14-016, odi determined that five additional vehicle manufacturers used inflators of a similar design and vintage also supplied by takata. No evidence of field failures was found in vehicles produced by these five additional manufacturers.nonetheless, at odi's in
Side front power window shatters
Summary
For the subject vehicles, there is a possibility that the retention force of the regulator bolts which attach the front side window glass to the power window regulator may not be sufficient due to an interference of the retention nut and the bolt shoulder radius.in this condition the bolt may become loose, causing a loud noise to be generated when the window is raised or lowered.if the vehicle and the power window are continuously operated in this condition, the bolt may completely separate, causing the glass to become misaligned, and in the worse case, the glass may shatter during operation of the power window.general motors corporation (gm) and toyota north america, inc. (toyota) will cond
Side front window shatters
Summary
The subject vehicle is manufactured by new united motor manufacturing, inc. (nummi) in fremont, california.nummi is a joint venture between general motors and toyota.toyota is responsible for responding to this NHTSA investigation.toyota reports that its evaluation is incomplete at this time, however; toyota has identified two issues that can contribute to side window glass breaking.in its january 11, 2008 letter to odi, toyota stated that a majority of the reports included in this response are most likely related to the loosening of the window regulator bolts.the second issue is, less predominantly, the interference of the side window glass with the door check link....odi has received 46 co
Questions about the 2004 Pontiac Vibe
- What are the most common problems with the 2004 Pontiac Vibe?
- By NHTSA owner complaints: air bags (104 complaints, typically around 106,500 miles); visibility and wipers (76 complaints, typically around 75,000 miles); body and structure (24 complaints, typically around 32,000 miles).
- How many recalls does the 2004 Pontiac Vibe have?
- 7 recalls listed by NHTSA, the latest from January 23, 2020 (air bags). Check your VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls to see which ones are still open on your car.
- Is the 2004 a bad year for the Pontiac Vibe?
- It is 4th of 12 Vibe model years by number of complaints, with 266 complaints. Complaint counts are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, so popular years collect more of them, and the newest years have had less time to.